Delaware Newspaper Feature On NWA Champion Adam Pearce

WrestleZone.com reader Marc Kruskol from MJK Public Relations sent along the following …

In this sport, cheating and antagonizing rank high

By Dennis Forney | Jun 22, 2012

If you’re wondering what would be fun and different to do this weekend, try hooking up with Adam Pearce. He’s flying in Saturday morning from San Diego to visit some friends who live in Sandy Fork.

Sandy Fork? Oh yeah, Sandy Fork is what you might call a hamlet in the southwestern corner of Sussex County, near Trap Pond and Laurel.

But Adam’s trip to Delaware isn’t strictly social. In fact, while he will have fun visiting his friends, Adam will also be making a whole lot of people mad. Also known as Scrap Iron, Adam makes his living beating people up and boiling the blood of others. He’s a professional wrestler. And not just any old professional wrestler. Adam has worn the National Wrestling Alliance’s world championship belt four different times.

So when can you see Adam Pearce practicing his craft? That would be Saturday night at the fire hall on Main Street in downtown Ellendale. (Don’t speed, for God’s sake!) Doors open at 6 p.m. First bell at 7 p.m. $10 for adults. $5 for the kids. The fire department, according to Jimmy Furbush, makes money off renting the hall and selling food. Promoters and wrestlers take the rest.

Scrap Iron Pearce will be on a card with several other wrestlers – male and female – all converging on Ellendale for two reasons: to win and to entertain (and to make money for themselves.).

“This is a sport based in athletics but it’s also about entertainment,” said Pearce in an interview from his San Diego, Calif. home late Wednesday afternoon. “Every wrestler there will be giving 100 percent.”

He said the professional wrestling of today is different from how it was when I was growing up, watching the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Argentina Apollo and Haystacks Calhoun. Bruno was the nice guy of the pro ranks, but don’t get him mad. He didn’t get to be world champion by being all nice. Get him in the ring with the evil likes of Luke and Jerry Graham and it was a classic match between right and wrong.

“These days, wrestling is faster and flashier,” said Pearce. “It goes hand-in-hand with what our youth are watching on TV. Lots of shooting and car crashes.”